Applying Mark Making

We are now going to do a series of studies and drawings based in mark making. These drawings are textural drawings, and are standard drawings for students of the arts.

Having practised mark making we now need to apply that experience. Firstly, it is advised to make studies of objects that have obvious textural qualities. The drawings that you make of these objects should imply the textured surfaces.

In the examples of the drawn objects, you can see that the textures is the main force of the thinking behind the drawing. You will also notice that the texture in the drawings are not an exact copy of what is seen but a metaphor (something that acts for something else) for the surface. Draw as many textured objects as you can as this makes for good practice.

In these examples, I have made some close up drawings from nature, and inanimate objects from a textural mark making approach. The way in which we do this is to draw the basic outline and structure of the object first. Then the idea is to fill it in with marks that give the sense of touch that the object has, and how it looks.

In example 1,we have a small ear of grass. The main area of texture here is in the little seeds of corn and how they are formed. All these examples are constructed out of a type of microscopic observation.

In the second example, we have the closed buds of a flower and the ribbed effect of the stem. In this drawing, there is a contrasting approach of styles. There are the carefully drawn structures of the buds and the stems compared to freer drawing at the top of the buds where the flowers are trying to appear and some leaf formation around the neck of the buds. This contrast in the drawing techniques makes for a more visually exciting type of drawing.

This approach is carried through into the third example of a flower. The carefully observed structure and texture of the stem has been drawn with consideration and a formal approach. Whereas the flower part of the drawing has been drawn more quickly using an appropriate mark to suggest the texture of the flower.

In examples 4,5,6,7 and 8 we have a very well organised formal approach to the production of the drawings. These studies were drawn in a structured and well thought out way. Laying down a series of logical marks within the structure that perform a visual textural manifestation of the plants, that is both exciting and pleasing to the eye and the intellectual inquiry it evokes.

One should look at the studies of nature from Leonardo da Vinci. These observations from nature are so compelling. We can also take inanimate objects and treat them in the same way. Take for example the drawing of the sandal; it is composed of many different marks that bring the sense of texture and character to the drawing. One should also look at the studies of old boots by Van Gogh.